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Bear Attack in Cooke City Montana Leaves One Dead
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by Amy Judd | July 28, 2010 at 03:37 pm
7674 views | 1 Recommendation | 13 comments
A Bear Attack at the Soda Butte Campground in Cooke City Has Left One Person Dead and Two Injured
The three people were camping at the campground, but not together, when a bear is thought to have attacked their tents between the hours of midnight and 2am. One of the men was dragged from the tent and was found dead at the western edge of the campground according to KTVQ.
Another male was bitten on the calf while a female suffered severe scratches and bites to her arms. They were taken to hospital and are expected to make a full recovery. The man drove himself to hospital while the female had to be air-lifted out of the area. As they were not camped together and only one bear appears to have been involved, officials are investigating what may have prompted the attack.
"We don't know if it was one bear, two bears, a black bear or grizzly bear," Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks spokesman Ron Aasheim said. "Obviously, the bear's gone now. Will it come back tonight? That's the question."
In 2008 a grizzly bear bit a man while sleeping in his tent at Soda Butte Campground but he made a full recovery and the bear was relocated.
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at 19:56 on July 29th, 2010
I really feel bad for the people that were injured and the individual that was killed. Having said that, the bears were here long before humans. This is their land, not ours. We're the intruders and have caused irreparable damage to THEIR environment. We have no right to take an animals live, much less cubs, for doing what they normally do...protect themselves and their offspring. It's just sickening that we kill something we don't understand....How arrogant...
at 03:08 on July 30th, 2010
These bears targeted humans for food. They disregarded their natural fear of man and attacked 3 tents in a crowded campground in the middle of the night. They were doing nothing "normal" nor were they protecting anything other than their appetite. It is extremely rare and extrodinarily dangerous for a bear to exhibit these types of behaviours. It is not arrogant to remove the bears and destroy them. Yellowstone rangers have massive amounts of experience dealing with grizzlies. They do everything they can to make sure that they keep a healthy fear of humans. Once again, it is rare for bears to turn like this. However, these bears need to be destroyed or more humans will die.
at 20:44 on July 30th, 2010
Every day we drive our vehicles by choice, a drunk driver, a heart attack victim, a deer running across the road could end our lives. We still choose to drive. We choose to go to places like Montana cause they are wild and beautiful. If you sleep within the grizzlys range there choice may be to eat you, so choose carefully. I mean no disrespect to any of the victims or families I have been in a grizzly situation in Bear Creek myself, fortunately it ended differently.
at 21:55 on July 29th, 2010
Just came back from Cooke City, MT on vacation. I have several thoughts about bears and specifically how humans relate to them and what the expectation should be. Bears are wild predators (a.k.a animals!). Humans must respect this! Does that mean we should never research, study, take pictures of, interact with them? Absolutely not! But, we should do these activities under careful and extremely safe and professional circumstances. Does camping agree with these circumstances? Thats a decision each individual will have to make for themslves. While in Montana I had the unique privilege of running intoYellowstone National Park about 7 miles (FYI: I'm a marathoner!). As I prepared to return to Cooke City, a Park Ranger pulled over and explained that a mother bear (a sow and her two cubs) was sighted up the road. He strongly encouraged me to get into his jeep and head back to safety! TRUST ME, I obliged immediately. What would you have done?
at 05:00 on July 30th, 2010
I realize that the human feels it should have control over all animals. But we are the intruders not the animals. When people go camping leave the radios, off road vehichles and anything that makes a noise at home. I think there should be strict rules for city dwelling campers. Set up one area for people to camp and have park employees to watch them like a hawk. You can not blame the animals for attacking when we go into their living quarters. This was not a mad bear just a protective Mother trying to take care of her young. Would humans not protect their young and do anything that needs to be done to feed them. This is why I do not go camping I don't need to interupt the wildlife in this country enough already do.
at 11:40 on August 23rd, 2010
"This was not a mad bear just a protective Mother trying to take care of her young." Wrong! This was a mother bear who snapped, going against an instinct she had possessed up to this point. That was to avoid humans. Now she was hunting them and teaching her young to do the same. Here is the report: www.fws.gov/mountain-prairie/species/mammals/grizzly/SodaButteCampgroundAttacksInvestigationTeamReport.pdf
at 23:41 on July 30th, 2010
I have camped in Yellowstone National Park and when I was there we had wildlife lumber through our campsite, my wife woke me we move to a safe distance and watched quietly. I'm sad this person got killed and the others mauled but my question is what did they do? When we were there, people act stupid when they get out into the wild, they get too close to wildlife like it was some kind of pet. People were getting within feet of a buffalo and we have it on video of the buffalo starting to breathe harder and get agitated, they were lucky. There are signs everywhere about the don't feed or interact with the wildlife but one woman took it upon herself to feed the wild burrows a loaf of bread and when it was all gone she turned away and the burrow nipped at her arm, then she started yelling what does it want. I yelled out the window food stupid can't you read. Camping, well what comes to my mind is did they follow all safety rules about food among other personal hygiene needs. When we camped the rules were pretty specific and the ranger even told us that we need to take extra care as there was a 3 year old grizzly in the area. I will be very interested in the Truth when and if it ever comes out about if they provoked the attack.
at 11:44 on August 23rd, 2010
Here ya go! www.fws.gov/mountain-prairie/species/mammals/grizzly/SodaButteCampgroundAttacksInvestigationTeamReport.pdfas the report states...none of us did anything wrong. Have questions? ...ask
at 20:30 on July 31st, 2010
I just returned from vacation. Our family was in a lodge about a mile from where the attack happened. The night before we saw a griz... bear. I would hate to think that that bear is the one that attacked the people camping. It is critical to respect nature and the animals who live in the wild. Camping in a tent is very risky! Even if you obey the rules something can go wrong. We considered taking a weapon to use while flyfishing but decided not to deal with the paperwork, approval and etc.... related to taking a gun. We scanned the area and made lots of noise when fishing. You bet we had bear spray with us too. A weapon may have been the better choice, now that I think of the danger.
at 19:15 on August 1st, 2010
I also was out in the Yellowstone, Cooke City area camping when the attack occured. I watched the local news that evening, and they had a man on their that had alot of experience working with bears. He brought up a good point, that hadn't occured to me about camping at a park where there are bears, and that is: You may do everything right by putting everything that has any scent to it in a locked area that a bear can't get into, but, we don't know what the people that were camping there before us may have done. Such as cooking something and dumping it close by etc. which may then attract the bear to the area. I love nature as much as the next person, and I love to camp, but after hearing what this man had to say, I think next time I will be staying in a cabin.
at 11:50 on August 23rd, 2010
I'd have to say that these are things that need to be thought about when pitching camp. I do go through the site very carefully looking for signs of previous "dirty" campers, but you can't see where people may have thrown gray water etc. It IS something we all need to think about before setting up but also what we may leave behind.
at 14:00 on August 2nd, 2010
That is why good created 30/06
at 13:33 on August 3rd, 2010
We just returned from near Cooke City, Yellowstone, the Tetons, and Jackson Hole. We passed through Cooke City and tried to picnic at Soda Butte in the park but the black flies drove us back into our car. Four days later the rain washed out my old leaky tent at Jenny Lake campground. As we drove back to Ohio we read the story about the bear attacks. Obviously, I am neither a seasoned outdoorsman nor a very experienced camper, but I love the West and the idea of wilderness. Years ago one famous environmentalist wrote that wilderness could best be described as a place where we are lunch. Too many tourists and even experienced campers forget that wilderness, even in national parks, is not the same as Disney, Hollywood, or a picture postcard. I am sorry for those who were killed and injured, but I am also sorry for the way we are turning wild nature into our playground rather than keeping it a sacred remnant.